Fighters with no preperation/sparring still looking great

The only fighters i heard who never prepped properly are JCC and Duran who were noted to spar but not run towards the end of their career

 

It can be tricky to make a further distinction between those who were untrained and those who always kept in shape and were available to step in as unexpected substitutes. Always taking care of oneself can pay off big time when opportunity knocks.

Michael Spinks was always a responsible and reliable character in the punch for pay ranks, the antithesis of big brother Leon. When Mike Rossman was forced to withdraw from his heavily hyped return with Ramon Ranquello, Michael was available to step in when the phone rang, and jabbed Ranquello's face into a Jackson Pollock painting, cementing his professional reputation and transforming a previously moribund and stagnant career. (It may seem incredible now, but his career path was as slow starting as his ring performances. He was the last of the 1976 US Olympic Gold Medalists to get on track, and Ranquello is what got him from backwater to whitewater.)

The late Henry Clark, then 1-2-1, was available on one day's notice to provide fodder for 6-1 prospect Manuel Ramos, seeking to rebound from his first defeat. Clark abruptly graduated from six to ten rounders with a dominant upset win over the longer distance, opening doors which would lead to a stellar 1967 campaign, the CA HW Title, and a respected 15 year career with televised appearances and wins over Eddie Machen, Tiger Williams, Mac Foster and Leotis Martin, among others.

 

:good Ranquello deserves a lot of credit for taking that beating.

 

They say Benitez had less than two weeks training for Leonard, if you believe that, then it should probably be high on the list.

 

I don't.

If Benitez decided to do little or no training for the biggest fight of his young career than he must have been a stupid ****. Busts his ass for Bruce Curry but Ray Leonard comes around? "...Piece of cake".

 

Yeah, i can't see it, it just seems too ****ing crazy.

 

I've seen footage of Benitez training. He was a dedicated young fighter from what I saw, and I just don't see how anyone could get as far as he did in such a short space of time any other way. Maybe he went off the boil a little later on, but he was at the peak of his career and undefeated when it came time to face Leonard, who had a lot of hype surrounding him. I just don't see how he would train for 2 weeks for that fight. As you say, it sounds ****ing crazy.

 

Apparently Monzon would do no roadwork. His only training would be sparring and he looked damn good for 15 rounds.

 

Nah, I don't believe that. Monzon hated sparring and did not do much of it, I have an old SI article to back that up.

Although he was not the most dedicated trainer.

 

This thread should be named 'Fighters with ready made excuses'

 

Any chance of inboxing me the extract. Or letting me know the issue date? Would love to read it.

 

The SI vault aint working at the moment, but when it does look at this link

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/va...uery=monzon&exactClause=&orClause=&notClause=

and look for the story named 'Wild Bull of the Pampas'

 

Agreed.

 

I've read that article, too.

James Toney... now there's a guy who hates roadwork. Absolutely refused to do it the latter part of his career. Hell, even Ali hated it until he heard how far SRR ran a day.